Benedicta Henriette of the Palatinate

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Countess Palatine Benedikta Henriette von Simmern, Duchess of Braunschweig-Calenberg

Benedikta Henriette Philippine von Pfalz-Simmern (born March 14, 1652 in Paris , † August 12, 1730 in Asnières-sur-Seine ) was a titular Countess Palatine near Rhine from the Palatinate-Simmern line and by marriage Duchess of Braunschweig-Calenberg .

Life

Benedikta Henriette was a daughter of Prince Eduard von der Pfalz (1625–1663) from his marriage to Anna (1616–1684), daughter of Carlo I. Gonzaga , Duke of Mantua, Montferrat, Nevers and Rethel. Her father went to Paris in 1645 and converted to Catholicism in order to be able to get married. Benedikta Henriette, like her sisters Luise Marie and Anna Henriette , grew up Catholic in Paris.

On November 30, 1668, she married Duke Johann Friedrich von Braunschweig-Calenberg (1625–1679) in Hanover , who had converted to Catholicism in 1651. On the occasion of the wedding, the opera L'Adelaide by the composer Antonio Sartorio was premiered.

Benedikta moved into Hanover on November 9, 1668, as evidenced by a copper engraving edited by Georg Friedrich Grimm . The bride brought numerous French courtiers with her, and so began a baroque bloom in Hanover , which was influenced by the French due to the origin of the Duchess. At her request, Johann Friedrich hired trained musicians in the French style, including the singer Anne Sophie Bonne. Benedikta Henriette also promoted Italian opera and made music herself. She was considered undemanding and was satisfied when she “had her books and her guitar ”. She supported her aunt Sophie in her church reunification efforts .

After the death of her husband in 1679, Benedikta Henriette moved with her daughters to the French court, where she lived as the guest of her cousin Elisabeth Charlotte . She was later accepted by her son-in-law in Modena , who treated her badly, which is why she returned to France and lived with her sister Anna Henriette de Condé. She was in correspondence with Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz , whom her husband had brought to the court in Hanover.

progeny

Benedikta Henriette had the following children from their marriage:

  • Anna Sophie (1670–1672)
  • Charlotte (1671-1710)
⚭ 1696 Duke Reinaldo III. d'Este of Modena (1655–1737)
⚭ 1699 Emperor Joseph I (1678–1711)

literature

  • Wilhelm Rothert : Benedikta, Duchess of Hanover , in ders .: General Hannoversche Biographie , Volume 3: Hanover under the Kurhut 1646–1815 , Sponholtz, Hanover 1916 (published posthumously by his wife A. Rothert and M. Peters), p. 100 -101
  • Linda Maria Koldau : Women-Music-Culture: a handbook on the German-speaking area of ​​the early modern period , Böhlau, Köln / Weimar 2005, p. 202 ff.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Christian Seebald: Libretti from the "Middle Ages" , Walter de Gruyter, 2009, p. 40
  2. ^ Christoph Reske: The book printers of the 16th and 17th centuries in the German-speaking area. Wiesbaden, Harrassowitz, 2007; ISBN 978-3-447-05450-8 ; P. 353; online through google books
  3. ^ Kuno Fischer: History of Modern Philosophy , F. Bassermann, 1867, p. 234
personal data
SURNAME Pfalz, Benedicta Henriette von der
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Pfalz-Simmern, Benedikta Henriette von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Duchess of Braunschweig-Calenberg
DATE OF BIRTH March 14, 1652
PLACE OF BIRTH Paris
DATE OF DEATH August 12, 1730
Place of death Asnières-sur-Seine